Miami may restructure coach Al Golden's contract

Agent disputes report UM has made overtures about a new deal

November 1, 2011|By Steve Gorten, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

CORAL GABLES — Al Golden's agent denied a report Tuesday in which he was quoted as saying the University of Miami has made "overtures" about restructuring Golden's contract in the wake of the NCAA scandal.

According to CBSSports.com, Golden's agent, Brett Senior, said that at least one Miami official has reached out to Golden specifically about the contract. He was also quoted as saying,"The university acknowledged there is something that needs to be done. Initial overtures came from them. It's the right thing to do. It wasn't handled well in the initial [stages]."

Senior told the Sun-Sentinel later Tuesday that no UM official has reached out to Golden or him about re-doing Golden's reported five-year, $10 million contract. "There has been zero discussions with the university about anything regarding his contract," Senior told the Sun-Sentinel. "I've had no contact whatsoever with anybody from Miami."

Senior added of his comments to CBSSports.com: "I think it was just taken out of context. I stated that Coach Golden indicated to me that the university is behind him 100 percent in supporting him through whatever they're gonna have to deal with regarding the NCAA stuff. It may have been inferred that they were supporting him with a new contract."

Golden wouldn't discuss the matter.

"Well, No. 1, I have to talk to my agent. Honestly, I don't really want to get into that right now. I just want to focus on Duke," Golden said. "If you want to say I'm sideswiping [the question] or whatever, I am. I don't want to talk about it."

UM athletic director Shawn Eichorst said he would not talk about "contractual matters," and when asked if Golden deserved a better contract, responded, "I'm not going to go there."

Eichorst said he "couldn't be more excited about what Coach Golden has done" and described his relationship with Golden as "wonderful."

"He and I are in this for the long haul," Eichorst said.

Senior would not say Tuesday whether Golden, who is 4-4 in his first season at Miami, has an escape clause in his current contract.

News broke in mid-August that 72 UM athletes, including 14 football players, were implicated by former booster/convicted Ponzi schemer Nevin Shapiro as having accepted impermissible benefits.

Golden expressed frustration over not being told by former athletic director Kirby Hocutt or anyone else at the school about the scope of the scandal before accepting the job. He said the university had a responsibility to tell him and athletic director Shawn Eichorst "if they knew this was percolating."

Tuesday, Eichorst wouldn't comment on how much, if anything he knew, about the NCAA investigation before accepting the job. Regarding the status of the investigation, Eichorst said he feels "really good about where we are in the process," but the NCAA hasn't given him a time frame on when it will deliver its verdict.

While all of the cases involving UM's current football players have been resolved, the NCAA has yet to make a decision regarding basketball player DeQuan Jones' eligibility. Jones was implicated by Shapiro in the Yahoo! Sports story on the scandal.

"He has cooperated. We have cooperated," Eichorst said. "I hope sooner than later we'll be able to figure out where we're going to be."